Shved leads Khimki past Bilbao

Khimki Moscow Region finished the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season in style by downing RETAbet Bilbao 99-78 at home on Wednesday. Khimki upped its record to 6-2 atop Group B, while RETAbet fell to 3-5 and needs already-qualified Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius to beat Montakit Fuenlabrada later Wednesday to make it to the Top 16. Alexey Shved led the winners with 18 points, Nobel Boungou-Colo added 11 and E.J. Rowland and Vyacheslav Zaytsev each had 10 for Khimki. Ivan Buva led Bilbao with 18 points, Michael Eric added 15 and Dejan Todorovic and Axel Hervelle each scored 10 for the visitors. A great first half allowed Khimki to seal the outcome early, 55-32. Khimki hit 13 of 21 two-point shots (61.9%) and did even better from downtown (6-of-9, 66.7%) before the break, outrebounding RETAbet 19-11 and forcing the visitors into 8 first-half turnovers. Khimki ended up hitting 11-of-21 three-point shots (52.4%) and dominating the boards, 35-20.

Hervelle followed a put-back layup with a three-pointer to get Bilbao going, but Shved had 5 points in a 12-0 run that Sergey Monia capped with a bomb from downtown for a 12-5 lead. A jumper by Rowland soon made it a double-digit lead, 17-7. Three-pointers by Shved and Stanislav Ilnitskiy boosted the hosts' advantage to 27-10 after 10 minutes. Boungou-Colo took over early in the second quarter and a layup by Marko Todorovic made it a 20-point game. Bilbao called timeout and Eric stepped up with a dunk and free throws, but Zaytsev and Valery Likhodey kept Khimki way ahead, 48-27. Back-to-back baskets by Rowland gave Khimki a 55-32 lead at halftime. Bilbao needed a quick comeback to return to the game and Eric tried to ignite it, but didn't find much help around. Three-pointers by Shved and Monia broke the game open at 67-37. Shved kept pacing Khimki but Scott Bamforth struck twice from downtown, getting help from Alex Mumbru and Miha Lapornik to bring Bilbao a bit closer, 77-57, after 30 minutes. Nothing really changed after that, as Khimki kept a comfortable lead until the final buzzer.

Head Coaches

IVANOVIC, DUSKO

Khimki Moscow Region

"The first half we played well both in offense and defense. The second half turned to be different, but tonight all the players had time on the court. We finished the first round of the EuroCup and now we are waiting for our opponents in the second one."

DURAN, CARLES

RETAbet Bilbao Basket

"First, congratulations to Khimki; they played better than us. I think the third quarter was the key. We played better during three or four minutes, but then Khimki every time made easy baskets. Also, when you lose the first quarter by a margin of 17 points, it’s impossible to win. Nothing more to add."

Players

LIKHODEI, VALERII

Khimki Moscow Region

"We already played Bilbao and this was our second game. Both games were alike, but in Spain we made a run in the third quarter and now did it from the very beginning. I think we set a good pace, whereas Bilbao played without ambitions and desire. So the outcome is very natural. They had a really bad game tonight. We are happy to clinch first place in the group. Hopefully, we’ll do the same in the Top 16."

TODOROVIC, DEJAN

RETAbet Bilbao Basket

"I think we started the game softly. We didn’t have some luck because we had like four or five open shots and missed them. Then Khimki started playing harder than us. They really showed us the level of a EuroLeague team. I think Khimki recognized us like a team that would fight till the last seconds. We went out in the third quarter playing better defense. We started moving the ball a little bit better and made some shots. The second half was obviously better that the first."